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Shmuly Yanklowitz (born June 29, 1981) is an American Modern Orthodox Rabbi, psychologist, activist, writer, and the Founder & President of Uri L’Tzedek.

Biography

Yanklowitz grew up in Toronto, New Jersey, and Chicago. He studied at the University of Texas as an undergraduate and Harvard University for a Masters in Leadership and Psychology, and he completed a second Masters degree in Jewish Philosophy at Yeshiva University. He is now a Doctoral candidate at Columbia University in Moral Development and Epistemology, and has taught as an instructor of Moral Philosophy at Barnard College. Shmuly was ordained as a Rabbi by Yeshivat Chovevei Torah (YCT Rabbinical School) in New York prior to which he studied Talmud and Jewish law at Yeshivat Hamivtar in Efrat, Israel for two years. Shmuly also received a second rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, the Chief Rabbi of Efrat. As a global social justice educator, Shmuly has volunteered, taught, and staffed missions in many countries including Israel, Ghana, India, France, Thailand, El Salvador, Senegal, Germany, Ukraine, and Haiti. For three years, Shmuly taught philosophy in the early mornings twice a week at an inner-city school in Harlem and served on the New York Department of Health’s Office of Minority Health Clergy Steering Committee. Shmuly worked in business consulting for a major top 10 firm, has written numerous articles on Jewish and social justice issues, has lectured and consulted across the world, and has a bi-weekly column in the Jewish Week called “Street Torah.” He serves as the Senior Jewish Educator at UCLA and has taught as a Rabbi at four different congregations in Montreal, Connecticut, Boston, and Florida and taught as a scholar-in-residence for over 20 organizations. He served on the International Board of Hillel for two years and is the former Director of Panim’s Leadership and Activism training (JAM) in Washington D.C. A film crew followed Shmuly for over a year to produce a PBS documentary (“The Calling”) about the training of religious leadership to be released in the winter of 2010. In 2008, the Jewish Week recognized Shmuly as one of “36 under 36” (one of 36 of the most influential Jewish leaders under the age of 36). In 2009, the UJC named Shmuly one of five “Jewish Community Heroes.”

Uri L’Tzedek

Shmuly founded Uri L’Tzedek in the spring of 2007. Uri L’Tzedek is a nonprofit social justice organization that aims to inspire and mobilize the Jewish community toward tikkun olam, or “repairing the world.” The organization, whose name is Hebrew for “Awaken to Justice,” specifically aims to support, challenge, and inspire the Orthodox Jewish community. Uri L’Tzedek launched the Tav HaYosher on May 12, 2009, on the one-year anniversary of the infamous raid on the Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant, which revealed violations ranging from fraud to defiance of child labor laws. The Tav HaYosher, modeled after Bema’aglei Tzedek’s Tav Chevrati in Israel, is an ethical seal certifying that eating establishment workers are being treated ethically and legally. The Tav HaYosher, according to Uri L’Tzedek’s founders, is the Orthodox community’s response to these offenses. With a team of compliance officers operating at every Tav-certified location, the Tav HaYosher ensures that workers receive their rights according to federal and state law as well as ethical standards. Less than one year after its launch, Tav HaYosher had already been awarded to three dozen kosher establishments in five different states, and it continues to expand. (I took this last paragraph from the ULT wiki page so please link to the articles that are there to back up this information). (Then at the bottom here - link to all the articles I’ve written).